Sue Phillips, D Phil Oxon

Interim Executive Director / National Institute of Clinical Studies National Health & Medical Research Council

Sue Phillips heads the National Health and Medical Research Council’s National Institute of Clinical Studies. The institute was established in 2001 by the Australian Government to improve health care by getting the best available evidence from health and medical research into everyday practice.

Since joining NICS, Sue has designed and implemented national knowledge translation programs in diverse clinical priority areas including the diagnosis and management of heart failure in primary care and prevention of venous thromboembolism in hospitalised patients, both in the public and private hospital sectors. In her current role, Sue is responsible for the NHMRC’s clinical practice guidelines program, national clinical practice implementation programs in organ donation, pain management, stroke management, VTE prevention, heart failure management, influenza prevention and the institute’s Implementation Fellowship program.

Sue studied biology at the University of Sussex and completed her doctorate in cellular immunology and cancer research at the University of Oxford. After finishing her postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Australian national University’s John Curtin School of Medical Research, Sue joined the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to pursue her interests in health policy and national health program implementation.

Sue is a member of G-I-N’s 2010 Scientific Committee, the Australian Council on Health Care Standards Research Advisory Panel, National Dementia Research Council’s Scientific Committee, National Primary Care Collaborative Cardiovascular Expert Group and UK South West VTE Prevention Expert Reference Group. Sue was awarded an Australia Day Achievement Medallion for services that have made a significant contribution to the nation in relation to the prevention of deep vein thrombosis in Australian hospitals.

"Vision of G-I-N in five years"

I have enjoyed the unique opportunity that G-I-N has created for networking and collaborating with guideline developers and implementation experts from around the world. I have been associated with G-I-N since the network was founded and have given presentations on guideline implementation strategies and run interactive workshops on what is known about knowledge translation and guideline adaptation in Wellington, Toronto and Helsinki.

I am particularly interested in supporting G-I-N and increasing the range of resources and training opportunities that G-I-N can provide members who want to improve the uptake of clinical practice guidelines. My particular area of interest is in designing and evaluating national programs which aim to roll out large scale implementation programs and change strategies at multiple levels within the health care system.

I would like to help G-I-N increase the level of interactivity that it offers participants during its annual conference by enhancing opportunities to meet and network with other members and by offering a greater number of truly interactive workshops and small group learning sessions.

Email: sue.phillips@nhmrc.gov.au